In what is likely to be a string of posts about Batman, I thought for a long time about the World's Finest squaring off. It's a perennial game among geeks and nerds to ask who would win in a fight between X and Y. This lead to arguments often inflated by the individual's own bias to which one may ask the question, "Doesn't your clear and obvious Batmania bias shroud your overall judgement?" No.
One of the oldest arguements is in combat, who would win, Batman or Superman? The commonsense area is Superman. Superhuman strength, speed, and senses, flight, heat vision, X-ray vision, and superbreath? No contest right? Wrong. Batman wins. Hands down. Every time. Why? Because he's Batman. He's ruthless, he's intelligent, and he's always prepared. Oh and he as access to krytonite. Every time Big Blue and the Dark Knight go toe to toe, Batman Wins.
In large part, Batman's string of upsets against superman is due to the way the two of them approach the fight and each other. Superman views Batman as a friend in a conventional sense. He trusts Batman and believes (falsely) that he would never harm a friend. As Batman himself once described their differences, "Deep down, Clark's essentially a good person. And deep down, I'm not." Superman approaches confrontations with the Dark Knight with kid gloves. He pulls punches, leaves himself open. His compassion is a weakness far more profound than his allergy to krytonite. He actually expects Batman to fight honorably, which he does to an extent. More important, Superman understands what he could do to Batman if he wanted to. The power he wields makes it all the more important for him to restrain himself. So even in the heat of battle, he doesn't use every advantage against Batman. He doesn't use his speed or ability to fly; he tries not to use his heat vision or artic breath. Forget the fact that he can use those powers, the fact remains, he won't. Essentially, Superman wants to come as close to fighting fair as he can.
That's why he loses-Batman doesn't fight fair. He's not even in the same fight as Superman. He knows very well that Superman has all the advantages in a fair fight - so why bother fighting fair? In all of their battles, in Gotham, Metropolis, or the depths of space, Batman uses the enviornment to his advantage. Sometimes that means using the city's entire power grid to stun Big Blue, as he did in Hush. (That's right: to stun him. Absorbing enough electricity to power one New York sized city won't hurt Superman, but it will give him pause.) Sometimes that means setting things up well in advance - things like hunter missles activated by X-ray vision, or charges that will drop ninety tons of rock onto Superman on cue. Any advantage, however small, is worth using.
Also Batman takes advantages of Superman's weaknesses. That's right: Weaknesses (plural). the obvious one, and one that Batman always uses, is kryptonite. But Superman has another weakness stemming from the power difference between himself and Batman - or, really, himself and everyone else. In superman's mind, he's so much more powerful than everyone, that he has to be careful not to cause permanent damage. batman may be the most dangerous man on the planet, as Supes once called him, but he's still just flesh and bone, like all of us. From batman's perspective, Superman is cocky and arrogant - and foolishly underestimates his opponent. His reliance on his powers means that he has never learned to think strategically - an art that the Dark Knight had to master long ago just to survive.
Perhaps the best way to esplan how Batman approaches superman is to think about the term "respect." The respect that one owes a rival, and here's a huge difference. Supes doesn't view Batman as a rival, doesn't respect him as a rival. Batman Does. They are in competition, whether actively or not. thus, when they are pitted against one another, as ocassionally happens, Batman is prepared for it.
Ironic as it is, Batman would likely refuse the prospect of Superman's powers, given the opportunity. Not that he wouldn't need them, but he might argue that they would make him weaker as a stratigist, and lesser of an opponent. He might for instance, begin to underestimate his opponents, which could quicker lead to his demise than being mortal and thinking of everything ever could.
One of the oldest arguements is in combat, who would win, Batman or Superman? The commonsense area is Superman. Superhuman strength, speed, and senses, flight, heat vision, X-ray vision, and superbreath? No contest right? Wrong. Batman wins. Hands down. Every time. Why? Because he's Batman. He's ruthless, he's intelligent, and he's always prepared. Oh and he as access to krytonite. Every time Big Blue and the Dark Knight go toe to toe, Batman Wins.
In large part, Batman's string of upsets against superman is due to the way the two of them approach the fight and each other. Superman views Batman as a friend in a conventional sense. He trusts Batman and believes (falsely) that he would never harm a friend. As Batman himself once described their differences, "Deep down, Clark's essentially a good person. And deep down, I'm not." Superman approaches confrontations with the Dark Knight with kid gloves. He pulls punches, leaves himself open. His compassion is a weakness far more profound than his allergy to krytonite. He actually expects Batman to fight honorably, which he does to an extent. More important, Superman understands what he could do to Batman if he wanted to. The power he wields makes it all the more important for him to restrain himself. So even in the heat of battle, he doesn't use every advantage against Batman. He doesn't use his speed or ability to fly; he tries not to use his heat vision or artic breath. Forget the fact that he can use those powers, the fact remains, he won't. Essentially, Superman wants to come as close to fighting fair as he can.
That's why he loses-Batman doesn't fight fair. He's not even in the same fight as Superman. He knows very well that Superman has all the advantages in a fair fight - so why bother fighting fair? In all of their battles, in Gotham, Metropolis, or the depths of space, Batman uses the enviornment to his advantage. Sometimes that means using the city's entire power grid to stun Big Blue, as he did in Hush. (That's right: to stun him. Absorbing enough electricity to power one New York sized city won't hurt Superman, but it will give him pause.) Sometimes that means setting things up well in advance - things like hunter missles activated by X-ray vision, or charges that will drop ninety tons of rock onto Superman on cue. Any advantage, however small, is worth using.
Also Batman takes advantages of Superman's weaknesses. That's right: Weaknesses (plural). the obvious one, and one that Batman always uses, is kryptonite. But Superman has another weakness stemming from the power difference between himself and Batman - or, really, himself and everyone else. In superman's mind, he's so much more powerful than everyone, that he has to be careful not to cause permanent damage. batman may be the most dangerous man on the planet, as Supes once called him, but he's still just flesh and bone, like all of us. From batman's perspective, Superman is cocky and arrogant - and foolishly underestimates his opponent. His reliance on his powers means that he has never learned to think strategically - an art that the Dark Knight had to master long ago just to survive.
Perhaps the best way to esplan how Batman approaches superman is to think about the term "respect." The respect that one owes a rival, and here's a huge difference. Supes doesn't view Batman as a rival, doesn't respect him as a rival. Batman Does. They are in competition, whether actively or not. thus, when they are pitted against one another, as ocassionally happens, Batman is prepared for it.
Ironic as it is, Batman would likely refuse the prospect of Superman's powers, given the opportunity. Not that he wouldn't need them, but he might argue that they would make him weaker as a stratigist, and lesser of an opponent. He might for instance, begin to underestimate his opponents, which could quicker lead to his demise than being mortal and thinking of everything ever could.
Even with typos (which I'm about to fix) this post is still awesome.
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